Vote, vote? Yes, yes!

The election posters are back in town!  And so is the circus…  Co-incidence?  I think not! 😉

And this time – if you’re a fellow European – you’ve no doubt been caught up in the election ‘hoo-ha’ too.  I’ve seen people out canvassing on the streets in Sweden and posters on the streets of Paris.

So just who – or what – are we voting for this time?  The European Parliamentary Elections on Sunday 25 May.  Plus a Yes or No to the europæisk Patentdomstol(European Unified Patent Court).

I decided to go and vote yesterday by ‘postal vote’ at our town hall.  (When we had local elections in November, I voted at our local library.  And got some new library books at the same time! Read it here…Vote! Get books!)  Why did I vote yesterday instead of waiting until Sunday?  ‘Cos a) I’d rather be out having fun in the sun on Sunday and b) I have no doubts and am ready.  Yep, having worked for nearly 10 years as PA to the British Judge at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, you can guess where I put my cross!

Postal voting at our (majestic) town hall was quick and simple.

Just turn up during opening hours and provide some ID.  Receive your two envelopes and step into the booth. 

The first envelope contains a blue card where you write either the party ‘letter’, name of the party in full, or name of the candidate you want to vote for.  So, for example, you could write “A” (if it was the Social Democrats), or “Socialdemokraterne” in full, or could write “Jeppe Kofod” if you wanted to give a personal vote to a specific candidate.

There’s a list of party letters/names/candidates right there in the booth.  Confused by the plethora of Danish political parties?  I tried to simplify them here for you in…Election time. Left. Right. Left, left, right!

The second envelope contains a red card where you simply tick Yes or No.

Make your choices, close the envelopes, leave the booth and hand the envelopes to the council employee.  You then sign a form and they ‘post’ the votes for you.   And – should you change your mind – you can simply go and vote again and again…  Or wait until Sunday for your final chance.

I’ve voted.  Done my duty.  Time to enjoy the fabulous summer weather we’re having in Copenhagen and go do what I love most…daily swimming in the Danish sea, all year round!  Here I am, yesterday morning, after a lovely dip on the sensational south coast of sunny, sunny, sunny Sweden.  Yep, gotta love being a true European… 😉

Diane 🙂